What can make nation so successful at the Olympics?

I identify the following factors as being behind China’s success at the Olympics. Neither one alone is enough. Their dominance is a marriage of all of them. Many great points have already been mentioned but the general tone seems to be either “China shouldn’t be winning so many medals” or “no, China is actually not that successful”. At the core, we’re simply witnessing a growing country revamping her athletics program. It’s what happens when a country sets her mind on a goal (better performance in the Olympics) and follows up with her words. Due to the sheer size of China’s population, her approach might be rather different (or extreme) from the perspective of smaller countries. But in reality, how many other countries have dealt with over 1 billion people when implementing any sorts of national programs?
Because of all the internal political conflict, China really only started coming into the Olympic picture in the early 90’s. China wasn’t really known for any athletic events before that. Then things got real serious in 2001 when Beijing 2008 won the IOC bids, leading to programs like Project 119. I don’t think it’s a surprise that China is “doing well” now. She has put in the time and the effort, as well as the money and the sacrifice, to get better at something she didn’t value too much before as a nation (aka sports). Beijing 2008 was a breakthrough for China and London 2012 is to show that Beijing 2008 wasn’t a fluke.
1. Talent pool. With a population of 1.3 billion you have a pretty good chance of finding a few hundred that are world-class athletes. And you can afford to be really picky. At the end of the day it all boils down to ability, and China has more people with the latent talent that they can find and develop. And they do, on a scale like no other country. China’s National Games have the same number of competitors as the Olympics. Only 4% of them make the Olympic team.
2. Large delegation. China sends more athletes than most countries. A country can’t win 100 medals if they only send 12 competitors. Quite simply, China can win more because there are more people to do the winning.
3. Playing the percentages. Related to point 2. China enters at least one athlete into almost every event, and often several, increasing the chances of getting their hands on the medals. You have to be in it to win it after all, and China makes sure it’s in everything.
4. Diversity. Related to points 2 and 3. China no longer focuses on just a few sports like some countries do. They have their strengths that get the lions share of money and resources – diving, table tennis, gymnastics, badminton, shooting – but they don’t ignore their weaknesses now. They have made huge improvements in things they have been traditionally weaker at like rowing, sailing and swimming.
5. High-yield events. China is good at a couple of sports for which a lot of medals can be won: gymnastics (18 golds). Besides the team and individual all-around events every apparatus has an individual event so the same athletes can double, or even treble, up. A single talented gymnast can win more than a group of handball, football or basketball players put together. That same person can compete in half a dozen medal events, whereas a track runner has to specialise. Thus to win lots of track medals you need lots of talented athletes. Badminton, Diving and Weightlifting – other Chinese strengths – also offer multiple medals.
6.Sports academies. Kids with little academic aptitude and/or strong athletic potential attend dedicated sports schools, where they train in their chosen field almost every day. They are basically full-time athletes from childhood. Not many western athletes have the luxury of skipping out on their maths homework to practice sports. Chinese kids hit their 10,000 hours pretty early.
7. Funding/subsidies. Chinese athletes don’t work, unless you count training all day every day as their job. They get money to do that. A lot of athletes from elsewhere have to fit their training in and around their normal lives, such as getting up at 5am to swim before college classes or going running after work in the evening. It’s similar to the Soviet system of state-funded, full-time amateurs.
8. Competitive culture. Make no mistake, life here can be pretty cutthroat at times. Children are raised to always fight to be first. Heck, even getting that one free seat on the bus is a contest. This country doesn’t breed losers.
9. Short man syndrome. The Chinese government, and many of the people, really do believe the world is against them and that they have something to prove. This motivates them to show the rest of the world they are just as awesome as they are.
10. New-found assertiveness. Related to point 9. For a long time China was “bullied by the foreign powers” (so it believes, anyway), and “The Party” still gets a lot of criticism today. Sports are one field in which they can genuinely compete and show the world they are here and are no longer weak.
11. They take it really seriously. Winning at the Olympics is a big deal for Chinese people. While every country likes a little success at the Olympics, few value it as highly as the Chinese. (I wonder if they know that and if that belittles their achievements in any way? There’s no fun in winning if the others don’t care as much after all.)
12. Training methods. Weibo Chen makes an excellent point in our comment thread below about China being traditionally strong in sports that can be trained for with repetition. I would add also that it’s very strict and disciplined. Coaches put their athletes through the ringer.
13. Tactical funding. China has long had a strategy of recruiting athletes to sports it believes it has a realistic chance of winning. In terms of resource allocation they partly ignore the glamour events (e.g. athletics) in favour of less-popular ones (e.g. shooting), although I think this is changing (e.g. swimming, see point 4). Nod to Michael Wolfe.
14. Fear of reprisal. Any athlete that fails faces imprisonment, torture and sometimes execution by the government upon their return.*